Author Topic: Singleplayer in Forgotten Hope 2.5  (Read 42199 times)

Offline gavrant

  • (Almost) retired dev
  • Developer
  • ******
  • Posts: 598
    • View Profile
Singleplayer in Forgotten Hope 2.5
« on: 08-02-2016, 22:02:25 »
Changes in 2.5

Maps reworked from scratch
  • Anctoville
  • Gazala (including new navmeshing by Ballard) *
  • Hurtgen Forest
  • Operation Goodwood
  • Operation Totalize
  • Vossenack *
* Gazala and Vossenack include reworked layers for 16 players. Please note that these layers do not repeat the multiplayer "single flag in the middle" layout, they can support 24-32 bots and are intended to be a pure infantry vs infantry slaughter.

Maps which got significant gameplay tweaks
  • Alam Halfa
  • Battle of Brest
  • Battle of Keren
  • Fall of Tobruk
  • Operation Luttich
  • Purple Heart Lane
  • Ramelle
  • The Battle for Sfakia
  • Tunis
  • Villers Bocage

General fixes and improvements
  • Fixed crashes to desktop when an AI tank driver gets stuck in one place for about 5 minutes. Note, this is not related to crashes when a human player exits a vehicle in a narrow place, that bug is still not fixed, sadly.
  • Fixed many (all?) static and mounted MGs playing fire sounds constantly, even when reloading, if manned by bots.
  • Fixed the dials of the British 3in mortar being completely broken in singleplayer (see here).
  • Game performance improvements, especially on the maps heavy with airplanes and artillery. Also first minutes on Omaha Beach are now less FPS-hungry thanks to the removal of one of the two MGs in the LCVP boats.
  • Reworked AI for cannons, rockets, MGs and bombs in airplanes, HE shells in tanks and AT guns (especially noticeable in the vehicles which don't have a coaxial MG as a secondary anti-infantry weapon), with the main goal to improve their effectiveness.
  • Somewhat improved performance of turret-less self-propelled guns and tanks (for example, StuGs, Marders, Grants) in AI hands by making the driver camera to move with the gun barrel in singleplayer.
  • Reworked deployable weapons. They do not disappear instantly after a bot or human player exits them, like in multiplayer. Instead they stay for some seconds. This means that bots can enter deployed weapons without dying now, and no crash to desktop will happen when a human player tries to enter a deployed weapon already occupied by a bot.
  • Increased time-to-live for artillery spots in singleplayer up to 5 minutes (from the multiplayer's 2 minutes) as suggested by DJ Barney.
  • Every mortar pickup kit got binoculars as suggested by DJ Barney.
  • Many-many smaller tweaks and fixes in AI of vehicles and weapons.


Changes in 2.52

First of all, an answer to the question which bothers you most: the new EF maps and Pegasus Bridge still have no official singleplayer support, we are working on providing them with tolerable pathfinding.

General fixes and improvements
  • Significant improvement of how the bots drive all tracked vehicles, from universal carriers and halftracks to, obviously, tanks. Bots now often choose better routes and are more confident in dealing with smaller obstacles. Guys, I need feedback on this, since it's virtually impossible to test single-handedly all the tens and tens of tracked vehicles on 40-something maps, so the results are still a bit raw. For example, the behavior of the heavier German tanks, starting with the Panthers, appears to be not as good as of many Allied tanks (but still better than it was before 2.52), which results in situations like the American team capturing all flags on Meuse River in something like 5 minutes while half of the German armor freezing in traffic jams at the bridges on their side of the map.
  • Somewhat decreased deadliness of the airplane bombs in the hands of AI (there is still room for improvement here).
  • Static AA guns now follow air targets better.
  • Improved handling of handheld AT explosives, especially the ones that explode on impact (e.g., the Italian AT grenade).
  • Fixed missing AI of the turret MG seats in the Russian tanks. Darman, the Russian mobile AT guns and airplanes are yet to get new AI, so for now keep the one you created in your map pack.

Maps
  • Bardia: fixed broken push mode, general gameplay tweaks.
  • Operation Hyacinth: fixed flare spamming by the bots with FPS drops accompanying it, better (more steady and continuous) "firing" of the spotlights.
  • Operation Totalize: general gameplay tweaks.


Complete lists of "good" and "play at your own risk" singleplayer maps, as of 2.52

The list of "good" maps
These are the maps with up-to-date (as in multiplayer) equipment, more or less balanced gameplay and pathfinding, mostly bug-free, and having the latest code "sweeteners".
Spoiler
  • Alam Halfa
  • Anctoville
  • Bardia
  • Battle of Brest
  • Battle of Keren
  • Eppeldorf
  • Fall of Tobruk
  • Gazala
  • Siege of Giarabub
  • Gold Beach
  • Hurtgen Forest
  • Lebisey
  • Meuse River
  • Omaha Beach
  • Operation Cobra (slightly outdated by the today's standards)
  • Operation Goodwood
  • Operation Hyacinth
  • Operation Luttich
  • Operation Totalize
  • Pointe du Hoc
  • Port en Bessin
  • Purple Heart Lane
  • Ramelle
  • St Vith
  • The Battle for Sfakia
  • Tunis
  • Villers Bocage
  • Vossenack

The list of "play at your own risk" maps
The following maps have one or more of these issues: outdated/broken gameplay and equipment, bad AI pathfinding, no code "sweeteners":
Spoiler
  • Bastogne (completely broken pathfinding, everything gets stuck everywhere)
  • Invasion of Crete (there are rumors that the map has outdated pathfinding too)
  • El Alamein
  • Falaise Pocket
  • Mareth Line (probably outdated pathfinding)
  • Mersa Matruh
  • Mount Olympus
  • Sidi Bou Zid
  • Sidi Rezegh
  • Siege of Tobruk
  • St Lo Breakthrough
  • Supercharge


Sorry, guys, as it often happens, neither of the new 2.5 maps - Arad, Dukla Pass, Pegasus, Seelow, Sammatus, got singleplayer support on release. But the equipment used on these maps is mostly ready for AI, anyone with basic BF2 modding skills can try it on another map with singleplayer support (at least I tested Katjushas and IS-2 on Alam Halfa :) ).



Previous changelogs for versions 2.46 - 2.48: http://fhpubforum.warumdarum.de/index.php?topic=19546.msg321090#msg321090
« Last Edit: 16-06-2016, 09:06:44 by gavrant »

Offline gamerjer

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 173
    • View Profile
Re: Singleplayer in Forgotten Hope 2.5
« Reply #1 on: 08-02-2016, 22:02:52 »
Nice awesome job! ;D updating my game now keep up the good work guys ;D

Offline Berkolok

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 195
  • Desert maps sucks
    • View Profile
Re: Singleplayer in Forgotten Hope 2.5
« Reply #2 on: 08-02-2016, 23:02:46 »
nice work

Offline gavrant

  • (Almost) retired dev
  • Developer
  • ******
  • Posts: 598
    • View Profile
Re: Singleplayer in Forgotten Hope 2.5
« Reply #3 on: 08-02-2016, 23:02:25 »
Thanks, gamerjer and Berkolok!

The first post in the thread was just updated with complete lists of "good" and "bad" singleplayer maps in 2.5.

Offline Oberst_Kroenen

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 154
    • View Profile
Re: Singleplayer in Forgotten Hope 2.5
« Reply #4 on: 09-02-2016, 01:02:42 »
  • Fixed crashes to desktop when a AI tank driver gets stuck in one place for about 5 minutes. Note, this is not related to crashes when a human player exits a vehicle in a narrow place, that bug is still not fixed, sadly.
  • Fixed many (all?) static and mounted MGs playing fire sounds constantly, even when reloading, if manned by bots.

Hmm thats probobly why my game crashed on Hurtgen forest. And the constant MG fire was really annoyng so its great to hear its fixed. Thanks for all the work on SP as well. Hoping to see the eastern front too in the future with SP support

Offline tempest

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 46
    • View Profile
Re: Singleplayer in Forgotten Hope 2.5
« Reply #5 on: 09-02-2016, 01:02:10 »
Are the "bad" maps not working now because of 2.5, or are they just not up to 2.5 standards?  Are they basically exactly as they were before, or did something gamebreaking happen to them?  I feel like I remember some of those maps working when I played them last!
« Last Edit: 09-02-2016, 01:02:49 by tempest »

Offline gavrant

  • (Almost) retired dev
  • Developer
  • ******
  • Posts: 598
    • View Profile
Re: Singleplayer in Forgotten Hope 2.5
« Reply #6 on: 09-02-2016, 01:02:09 »
Hmm thats probobly why my game crashed on Hurtgen forest....
Yes, Hurtgen Forest was exactly the map where I localized the bug and found its cause. Stupid trees :)


Are the "bad" maps not working now because of 2.5, or are they just not up to 2.5 standards?  Are they basically exactly as they were before, or did something gamebreaking happen to them?  I feel like I remember some of those maps working when I played them last!
Bastogne is broken from the moment it was released. As for the rest of the "bad" maps, I just don't know their current state, I haven't tested them, to be honest. They may be playable without any terrible bugs, but may be totally not playable, or may just miss some new equipment from the corresponding multiplayer layer. The only thing for sure is that those maps have not got updates supposed to improve AI spawning, AI pathfinding, etc. Let's call it "play at your own risk" maps.
« Last Edit: 09-02-2016, 01:02:19 by gavrant »

Offline tempest

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 46
    • View Profile
Re: Singleplayer in Forgotten Hope 2.5
« Reply #7 on: 09-02-2016, 02:02:09 »
Good to know!  I look forward to trying out all your hard work on the "good" list, and am, of course, excited for the eventual AI being added to the Eastern Front maps  ;D

Offline Darman

  • FH-Betatester
  • ***
  • Posts: 242
    • View Profile
Re: Singleplayer in Forgotten Hope 2.5
« Reply #8 on: 09-02-2016, 14:02:42 »
Thanks for all the details, and of course for all the effort! Although I would argue that there are, except for Bastogne maybe, no "bad" maps, unless 2.5 has severely broken them (didn't get the impression playing a bit yesterday). They work, and most still provide immense fun even with the Bots being stuck at some occasions. But of course I couldn't test 99% since the latest release yet.

Anyway, since there is no navmesher on the Dev Team to create Bot support for the new maps right now, I'm trying to see wether I can create a simple navmesh in the meantime myself, because I just can't wait to play these maps, they look amazing. Anyway my first attempt, Arad, is already giving me severe headaches with untracable crashes when trying to Render the AI... Its good to hear that the vehicles are ready to go though, that eliminates one possible source for errors.

Offline gavrant

  • (Almost) retired dev
  • Developer
  • ******
  • Posts: 598
    • View Profile
Re: Singleplayer in Forgotten Hope 2.5
« Reply #9 on: 09-02-2016, 14:02:35 »
Darman, please do not try your luck in navmeshing of Pegasus or the EF maps. The problem is that many statics on these levels are simply not ready for navmeshing. You won't get tolerable AI pathfinding with statics being in this state.

Offline Darman

  • FH-Betatester
  • ***
  • Posts: 242
    • View Profile
Re: Singleplayer in Forgotten Hope 2.5
« Reply #10 on: 09-02-2016, 14:02:11 »
I was suspecting something like this. Too bad. Thanks for the info.

Offline pablovelasco

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 2
    • View Profile
Re: Singleplayer in Forgotten Hope 2.5
« Reply #11 on: 10-02-2016, 01:02:46 »
Que pena que los nuevos mapas no tengan la posibilidad de ser jugados en modo 1 jugador. Se sabe si tarde o temprano lo sacarán? Quizá en otra actualización?

In english +- ;D
The new maps will have single player ever? maybe in 2.5 2?

Offline gamerjer

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 173
    • View Profile
Re: Singleplayer in Forgotten Hope 2.5
« Reply #12 on: 10-02-2016, 12:02:27 »
Que pena que los nuevos mapas no tengan la posibilidad de ser jugados en modo 1 jugador. Se sabe si tarde o temprano lo sacarán? Quizá en otra actualización?

In english +- ;D
The new maps will have single player ever? maybe in 2.5 2?
yeah from what i have read, and how it mostly go is that singleplayer will be added later on ;)
how long it will can tell no one so have some patience :P

Offline pablovelasco

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 2
    • View Profile
Re: Singleplayer in Forgotten Hope 2.5
« Reply #13 on: 10-02-2016, 13:02:22 »
Gracias!

Thanks!

Offline Michael Z Freeman

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 811
  • The Few are many ;)
    • View Profile
    • Homepage
Re: Singleplayer in Forgotten Hope 2.5
« Reply #14 on: 12-02-2016, 16:02:36 »
  • Increased time-to-live for artillery spots in singleplayer up to 5 minutes (from the multiplayer's 2 minutes) as suggested by DJ Barney.
  • Every mortar pickup kit got binoculars as suggested by DJ Barney.
  • Many-many smaller tweaks and fixes in AI of vehicles and weapons.

Yay ! You would not believe how exciting it is for me to see that included. I'll be trying this out in a moment  ;D 8) I did play a brief game on Mersa Matruh (before I knew it was "play at own risk") and what was gone was any microstuttering on major FPS drops even with 64 bots. That could be because I just swtiched to Windows 10 for gaming where I've had better performance with other games, but it could also be because of the performance improvements. I suspect my old Windows 7 installation was a bit messed up as well.

Anyway, since there is no navmesher on the Dev Team ...

I thought there was someone from BFSP who was working with the team ? Anyway, maybe that fell through.